I jumped into this as I recalled a similar thread in the FreeBSD section - I do not have a laptop with a hybrid video card.

What I was able to glean from the Arch linux wiki is that a software solution (vgaswitcheroo) is used. I initially suggested that the bios may have a setting but with further searching could find no mention of turning off one of the cards in the bios.

Unless you are willing to attempt to port one of the software solutions mentioned above you are probably out of luck as far as running OpenBSD on this particular laptop.

In general, for a good OpenBSD experience, it is advisable to make OpenBSD supported hardware a criteria for purchase.

In looking at your dmesg, it appears to me that the ATI video is an unknown device and it is not assigned to vga0. This particular device was added to OpenBSD -current (recognized as a Radeon HD 6600M) on May 28, which was after 5.3 was released. This recognition is included in 5.4, which is expected to be released on or about November 1.

The Intel video is recognized, and is assigned to vga1.

I don't see any "(EE)" errors in the xdm.0.log other than a failure to find /root/xorg.conf.new. What I do see, however, is a failure to recognize either Radeon or Intel graphics. I don't have enough knowledge of X.Org and its drivers to determine why it doesn't recognize the Intel graphics.

This particular device was added to OpenBSD -current (recognized as a Radeon HD 6600M) on May 28, which was after 5.3 was released. This recognition is included in 5.4, which is expected to be released on or about November 1.

Many thanks for that information. In which case, is it advisable to install the current snapshot of OpenBSD 5.4 to test this functionality prior to its official release?

...is it advisable to install the current snapshot of OpenBSD 5.4 to test this functionality prior to its official release?

OpenBSD 5.4 is currently scheduled to be officially released at the end of October 2013. Because of the lead time required to manufacture the official CD sets, the code base for 5.4 was frozen in the middle of August. Snapshots of -current today will contain two months worth of developer changes past what was the August code base.

Nevertheless, it is still advisable for you to install -current in order to see if any problems have been resolved. If you were to formally submit this as a problem report to the project developers, the first thing they would ask is whether any testing has been done with a recent -current snapshot, & rightfully so.

To elaborate somewhat on ocicat's comments, related to upgrades vs. installs. I have two points to make:

Point 1:

There are no supported downgrade procedures. The only supported upgrade process is from older to newer, either sequentially by release or (with care, per the Following -current FAQ) from from the most recent -release to -current. If you install -current now, it will be of diagnostic value, but you will not be able to downgrade to 5.4-release at the end of this month. If you wish to return to -release, you'll need to reinstall.

Point 2:

There was a major change to the -current kernel in August for internal time representation. Upgrading through this change to -current, from 5.3-release or from prior -current levels, is more complex than a typical OpenBSD upgrade. A reinstall may be preferred by some new users.

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(The -stable branch of OpenBSD is functionally equivalent to -release for the above discussion points.)

Thanks again for all your help. Indeed, X works just fine using the current snapshot of OpenBSD 5.4! I probably will reinstall OpenBSD 5.4 when it is officially released, though the current snapshot of OpenBSD 5.4 is sufficient for a new user such as myself to become acclimatised to OpenBSD for the time being.

Well, this is unfortunate; each time I boot now, I receive "acpitz0: critical temperature exceeded 144C, shutting down". Given that this problem may potentially lie in the revisions made to the August code, is it worth waiting until the official release to obtain OpenBSD 5.4?

I probably will reinstall OpenBSD 5.4 when it is officially released, though the current snapshot of OpenBSD 5.4 is sufficient for a new user such as myself to become acclimatised to OpenBSD for the time being.

Installing OpenBSD 5.4-releaseafter installing OpenBSD 5.4-current is a step backward. You would be moving from newer code to older code. Again, the head of the CVS tree where -current snapshots are obtained today has an additional two months of development & bug fixes over what will be found in 5.4-release.

The code base for OpenBSD 5.4-release is already frozen. No new code will be checked into that CVS branch. Ever.

It may be worth your time to study Section 5.1 of the official FAQ which describes OpenBSD's naming convention of -release, -stable, & -current, & how these relate to the CVS code repository.

Last edited by ocicat; 10th October 2013 at 10:23 PM.
Reason: missed reference to 5.4-release

Given that your motherboard is dated 2011 (found in dmesg(8) output...), you may want to experiment with disabling ACPI to see if this helps resolve the problem. Others here may chime in with other suggestions.

I would also recommend submitting a bug report with dmesg(8) output from a recent -current snapshot, as the developers will be more interested in what behaviour is seen with code very close to the head of CVS. More information on submitting bug reports can be found at the following: